>> 1:00 p.m. and harris. get you are watching "france 24." we have all the international news for you. headlines today -- not guilty of murder. oscar pistorius has been cleared of deliberately killing his girlfriend reeva steenkamp by a court in south africa. he is still facing culpable homicide charges though. that judgment continues. we will degrade and ultimately destroy them -- barack obama outlined his strategy for taking on the islamic state. but it could take time to eradicate them. two major banks threatened to

leave scotland if it votes for independence. rbs and lloyds -- adding to fears about financial instability if scots break away from the rest of the u.k. also coming up for you in the next hour here on live from paris, good news on the environment as scientists say the damage to the ozone layer is getting better. we will be explaining how that has happened later in this bulletin. in sports, a major upset at a basketball world cup as france wins narrowly against the host nation of spain. first, we are starting with this news just in from south africa -- a judge has cleared oscar pistorius of murder, saying she believed his account of what happened on that a full night

mainly that he did not intentionally kill his girlfriend reeva steenkamp. it was a very emotional scene in the court after that judgment was read out. tears streaming down the face of oscar pistorius. the judge made that announcement in the courtroom in pretoria just a short time ago. let's take a listen. >> the question is -- did the accused for see the possibility of the results in death -- [indiscernible] reckless or not? in the second sentence of this case, the answer has to be no. it follows that the accused believed that his life was in danger. the accused therefore cannot be found guilty of murder -- [indiscernible] >> pistorius is cleared of

murder but still charged with culpable homicide for shooting his girlfriend reeva steenkamp. we're still waiting for judgment on that. the court at the moment is adjourned. let's get the latest with our correspondent who has been following this morning's session in pretoria. take us through why the judge has decided to clear oscar pistorius of murder. >> well, she has not only cleared him of murder, she has also layered him of premeditated murder. the case was built around the fact that oscar pistorius intended to kill reeva steenkamp. the judge has now found that she believed her pistorius' version that there was no intention to kill her. his version is that he genuinely thought that there was an intruder in the bathroom and he acted out of fear and shot through the bathroom door. the second count of murder, he

was not aware of the outcome of shooting. with the judge also set was having the intention to shoot is not necessarily the intention to kill, therefore he is cleared of murder. now we're waiting for the court to resume. we will hear about the outcome of culpable homicide meaning erroneous shooting. i think ox -- i think oscar pistorius is probably a very relieved man now. he has always said, "i shot her but i shot her in arab. i shot her out of fear. -- i shot her in error." now being cleared, he must be very relieved. >> he must be relieved it with others very emotional scenes. i mean, this is clearly a very big ordeal for oscar pistorius. it has been a very harrowing

trial. it has to be a momentous relief. >> absolutely. it was very, very clear that he was relieved but extremely emotional. he broke down here even after the judge adjourned, during the lunch break, he continued crying during the lunch break and was consoled by family members. >> as you said, he is still facing the charge of culpable homicide, having been cleared of murder. take us through what that means. >> what this means is that -- he has never disputed the fact that he shot her. what he is saying is he shot her in error. so now the judge will have to weigh the evidence. earlier, she had accepted his version on two accounts, premeditated murder and murder. culpable homicide -- he fired four shot and killed her, but it was in error.

that is culpable homicide. >> during the session this morning, the judge really discredited a lot of the state prosecutor's case, didn't she? discredited a lot of elements from that. >> she did it she poked holes in the state's case to she discredited almost all of the witnesses of the state, saying that -- [indiscernible] but she did say that you cannot just look at the evidence alone. you need to look at all the facts to chew did say the incident took place in the early hours of the morning and people were sleeping. they woke up when they heard shots. people say there were four shots and some say there were six shots, but shots were fired. she all but talks about the fact that all the media attention and that the witnesses may have been influenced by all the media attention and what they read in the newspapers and what they heard on the radio and saw on television but she was critical

of the defense case in some cases, saying oscar pistorius at times was not truthful. however, she said being not truthful does not mean being guilty. >> we will even there for now. thank you very much for that from south africa. that was the latest on the trial of oscar pistorius here the judgment now continuing with the charge of culpable homicide. onto other news now and a much-awaited speech, barack obama has outlined his strategy for taking on and destroying the islamic state organization. obama said he would not hesitate to take action inside syria, as well as in iraq. the president insisted there will be no american troops deployed to combat roles in iraq , but he did warn that eradicating the terrorists will take time. barack obama spoke last night from the white house.

>> our objective is clear. we will degrade and ultimately destroyed issa -- i felt through a comprehensive and sustained counterterror strategy. we will have down terrorist who threaten our country wherever they are. that means i will not hesitate to take action against isil in syria, as well as in iraq. as i said before these american forces will not have a comic mission here we will not get dragged into another run war in iraq. >> barack obama also calling isis a cancer, that it will take a long time to eradicate. the american intelligence services working tirelessly to try to cut off supply lines and to fight about information they can about the group. let's look at the islamic state organization now, who they are. >> 21st century hellfire to bring back an ancient empire. in seventh century, there was a

unified muslim nation across the middle east. today, the islamic state organization wants to re-create this caliphate, complete with sharia law in one supreme leader. >> our fighters have rushed to the caliphate and appointing imam their leader. it is a duty to muslims that has been lost through the centuries. >> already controlling large parts of syria and iraq, the group wants to, in its words free palestine and conquer jordan and lebanon. >> only one country. we also have only one imam. >> u.s. officials say it has 15,000 active fighters from 81 countries. >> we have brothers from bangladesh iraq, cambodia, australia, u.k. >> islamic state members say anyone not part of their group is not a true muslim and therefore a legitimate target in

their holy war. islam's highest authorities reject the ideology totally. >> it is painful that such inhumane crimes are committed in the name of islam, which is a religion of mercy. >> their ideas may be rejected by mainstream muslims, but their message and sophisticated propaganda machines of finding a growing audience. >> in just one weeks time, voters in scotland go to the polls to decide if they want to break away from the rest of the u.k. the last stages have become very tight. the results could go either way. that is creating financial uncertainty. teacher large banks have warned they could leave scotland if it votes for independence. let's get the report. >> a blow to scotland's yes campaign. the owner of bank of scotland says it will move its legal

headquarters away from here in edinburg. that is should scotland vote in favor of independence. the royal bank of scotland is expected to make a similar announcement, shifting their legal basis to london in so keeping with in the u.k. to allow the bank to maintain the protection of the bank of england and the lender of last resort. having failed up the banks during the financial crisis, the u.k. government still owns 25% of lloyds and 81% of rbs. lloyds stated that while the changes are unclear, they have contingency plans in place which include the establishment of new legal entities of england. moving south could have a dramatic effect on scotland' as revenue. financial services currently make up some 9% of scottish gdp only slightly less than oil. the -- the announcement leaves the question over jobs. lloyds is the largest private sector employer in scotland with

some 16,000 staff. rbs employs 11,500. leader of the yes campaign briefly describe reports of thanks living scale and as nonsense and scaremongering. he maintains independence is in the scottish economy's best interest. >> a rare piece of good news for you now about the state of the planet. scientists say we -- the damaged ozone layer in the earth's atmosphere is beginning to recover. that is the first time in 35 years. i am joined by our health correspondent. for once we have got some positive news. take us through the findings. click that is right. two major pieces of information. first is the ozone layer, what shields life here on earth from ultraviolet rays. that is getting thicker. after more than three decades of it thinning caused by man-made chemicals which essentially destroyed the screen.

more that -- more at the ozone hole, it is no longer getting bigger. it is not a real hole. it is an area where the concentrations are much lower. if we look at these images provided by nasa, we can see the evolution of the so-called hole. the purple and dark blue patches represent it. in the 1990's, it was large enough for the moon to pass through at one point. finally, it seems to have stabilized. is it -- it is not yet shrinking, but the healing process has begun. >> that is very good news. how did things improve? >> it is largely due to chemicals that were once widely used in refrigerators and spray cans. the world came together in 1987 and agreed on the montréal protocol. it is looked at one of the most successful treaties ever. this is the u.n. environmental director --

>> the montréal project may already be preventing somewhere around 2 million cases of skin cancer each year. by the end of the century of the montréal protocol, it could be as high as 100 million cases of skin cancer that have been avoided. >> less skin cancer, but we're not there yet. to get back to the pre-1980's levels we will have to wait until the middle of this century. >> thank you very much for that environmental report. a reminder of our news headlines here on live from paris -- not guilty of murder, oscar pistorius cleared of not delivered -- cleared of deliberately killing his girlfriend reeva steenkamp. he still faces culpable homicide charges as the judgment continues. we will degrade and ultimately destroy them -- barack obama outlines his strategy for taking

on the islamic state. he warned americans that eradicating them could take time. and two major banks threaten to leave scotland if it votes for independence. rbs and lloyds adding to fears about financial instability of -- if scots break away from the rest of the u.k. in the weekly -- our look at with the weekly news magazines have inside. let's get more. you have been going through the weeklies for us. starting out in france. >> we can see here this picture of hollande, francois hollande, on the cover. it says -- hollande does some explaining of himself. he says -- cynical, me? contentious? no. he is saying in the report that he is particularly hurt by this

allegation made the former girlfriend. >> she published a book in which she made some very damaging allegations about francois hollande. >> it is called "thank you for this moment.” that is ironically titled. it is a way of her washing her dirty laundry in public. now he says that he rejects her allegation that he would use the word "ruthless" to describe -- "ruthless" to describe him. he says i have never tried to make people think i am someone i am not. he's is no scandal will see me giving up my office. >> he has been asked that question given all the problems, will he continue? hollande is also on the front cover of another french magazine. they have a dramatic headline, saying "a journey into hell."

>> yes, it says he is humiliating. what we have seen this year is that he has had -- [indiscernible] now with this scandal and this book, he is got up to 13%. we have never seen the president so unpopular. there was one sentence in the case -- and the piece that was favorable to him. >> tell us about that. >> is is hollande has the great quality that he does look forward and does not dwell on things that have passed. >> probably just as well. what indeed. >> perhaps she changed her opinion on hollande. onto another magazine, same name in italian. >> this is in italy, neighboring france. a problem of governance. you can see the headlines there -- to govern is really tiring. that man in the photo is someone

that angela merkel has called a matador of european politics. as you can see, he is having a really hard time pulling in the boat -- >> was like he is working pretty hard. >> the italian economy is not moving. several analysts are saying well yes, he's doing fairly well, but he is stuck. what we have is basically a situation or there is no alternative to him. so one of the quotes is that we are waiting. we want something to happen. there's the question of europeans watching their leaders, and the euro zone economy is especially not moving. >> a lot of frustration coming through. you have seen that sense of crisis in europe right across the magazines from across the continent. >> this one has a headline which is about the crumbling state of

germany. we often think that germany is the powerhouse and is leading the way in terms of what could happen in the eurozone, but this is very damning. you can see the scaffolding holding up the skies grippers and lovely homes, very shaky, indeed. they say what we have is german companies investing abroad, not investing in germany. quite so they're also worried. >> also critical, yeah. >> and the cartoon of the week -- as far as this magazine is concerned. it is a question of leadership. what you see is barack obama facing not one ice bucket challenge, but several. he has vladimir putin checking a lot of ice down onto him. and you have the islamic state queuing up to give him a cold shower, as well. >> he must feel like that, i suppose, with all the foreign-policy challenges.

nice analogy there. you are also looking at the french magazine which gets articles from around the world. >> yes it does. the scots will be having the last work you whatever happens scotland will be having its say. that is about the independence referendum. what we have got is a real division now with the race very tight, ndp or the headline there -- to be or not to be. i thought, that is hamlet, why did they not choose mac beth? what a scottish play. >> yes, a darker play that reflects some of the mood in scotland because we do have a little bit of nastiness. >> it has gone quite edgy. we will have to see how that goes on september 18. thank you very much for our look at the weekly news magazines. coming up right now here on live from paris the latest sports news. we are getting the latest news on the basketball world cup

quarterfinal matches. >> france stunned the host spain in the semifinals of the world cup basketball championships. the french led by seven points at halftime and went on to win 65-52. boris diaw at the top scorer with 15 points. >> of course we believe in ourselves, but the most important thing is what happens on the court. you have to give everything, and that is what happened here. every player raised their level of performance. everybody was 100% concentrated we had not seen that until today. of course, this was our best performance this tournament. >> we have to keep that going to agree have to continue like this. what we need to do is stay humble. it is true that we won this match against a great team which is very good, but we have not won a medal yet. we still have to play serbia in a big semifinal. >> our shooting percentages show

it. the rebounding difference is way too big, almost double. so those are big key factors today do not think we underestimated france. they play their game. we just played not well. >> team usa has been preparing for their semifinal here in barcelona. the defending champions have cruised to since last clutter without missing a match, but now they face a tricky competition. the point guard in 2012, james harden, has been crucial to his team so far. he knows the upcoming clash will be the americans' biggest test to date. >> we have to make sure we compete and play for each other. we have to move the ball and make the passes. we have to help each other out. listen when you is a very good team with very good guards. their two big man are

tremendous. it will be a big-time game for us. >> a rematch of the first semifinal from the less world cup in turkey. the usa won that one, going on to beat the host in the final. the coach says they do not take results for granted. >> our guys have played there butts off. they have great camaraderie. you all, some of you, think that on a flip of the switch or whatever, that is when we start hitting shots. you know like, if any team just has to wait for that, they are flipping the switch all the type you do not hit shots all the time here at what you can do is play hard, play defense, and readout. >> the u.s. going into the match as clear favorites. having also won the limits in 2008 and 2012, the win would

bring them within one match of winning four global tournaments in a row. the second round of the africa cup of nations, a stunning win. the defending champions nigeria, were held to 0-0 in south africa. there was a late equalizer. senegal won 2-0. egypt lost at home to tunisia. the spanish -- [indiscernible] their overall lead after the 17th stage. matthews was unable to catch up at the end. degenkold with his ninth career win. matthews had to settle for second.

you can see the overall standings. >> today in the end, it was complicated. there was paving stones. the most important thing was that i could finish in a good position. now i think about the next race. it will be a very tough day. they will do all they can to win this stage and reduce the gap on me to join need to be focused to prevent them from attacking. >> one player has done dennis chairman of the ferrari formula one team in october. the 67-year-old will be replaced by the chief executive officer of parent company fiat.